Dolly Parton has promised to donate $1,000 per month to families that lost their homes in devastating wildfires that have burned some 15,000 acres and scorched 700 buildings in the Great Smoky Mountains of Tennessee, where she grew up.

The famed country singer and a co-owner of Dollywood, a resort that barely escaped the wildfires' destruction, said in a statement released late Wednesday night that the Dollywood companies and the Dollywood Foundation would set up the My People Fund to benefit the victims.

"I've always believed charity begins at home, and my home is someplace special," Parton said. "We want to provide a hand up to those families who have lost everything in the fires. I know it has been a trying time for my people, and this assistance will help get them back on their feet."

The My People Fund will provide $1,000 each month to Sevier County families that lost their homes, she said in the statement.